Woody Allen’s Sex Abuse Allegations Still Haunt Him

His son opens up about silence in the culture of Hollywood
- byErin Rooney

12 May
2016

On the day of his new film opening at Cannes, Café Society, Woody Allen’s son (Ronan Farrow) published a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter. He wrote about the culture in Hollywood of ignoring ‘damning’ sex allegations, such as the allegations his sister (Dylan Farrow) made against Woody Allen in 1992 that he abused her as a child.

Ronan described how The New York Times ran a piece on his sister’s story online, giving her 936 words and adding cautious notes around it. But he said the way the media told his father’s story was completely different.

“Soon afterward, the Times gave her alleged attacker twice the space — and prime position in the print edition, with no caveats or surrounding context. It was a stark reminder of how differently our press treats vulnerable accusers and powerful men who stand accused.”

When The New York Times ran Woody Allen’s story in 2014, he denied the allegations: "Of course, I did not molest Dylan." A year earlier, the prosecutor of the case dropped the charges against Woody Allen on account of Dylan being 'too fragile' for a trial.

Kristen Stewart even opened up in a recent interview with Variety about the fact that she and Jesse Eisenberg had hesitated before accepting the roles in Café Society.

"At the end of the day, Jesse and I talked about this. If we were persecuted for the amount of s— that's been said about us that’s not true, our lives would be over," she said. "The experience of making the movie was so outside of that, it was fruitful for the two of us to go on with it."

Ronan Farrow’s column explained that his sister has been hurt every time someone comes forward to work with Woody Allen, and he ended it by begging more reporters to ‘ask some hard questions’ of these people.

“That kind of silence isn't just wrong. It's dangerous. It sends a message to victims that it's not worth the anguish of coming forward. It sends a message about who we are as a society, what we'll overlook, who we'll ignore, who matters and who doesn't.”